• Look for some more staff changes in Mayor John Peyton’s office this week. Last week Peyton named Lisa Rowe to his executive staff and she’s not the only one coming or going, we hear.
• JEDC executive director Kirk Wendland said he wants to name his deputy within the next two weeks. Wendland is reviewing applications for three vacant directors’ positions first and then will move on to the rank and file. He got about 25 applicants for the three jobs and said their qualifications ranged from the eminently qualified to the wishful thinkers.
• Gregory J. Lesak Jr. has joined Volpe, Bajalia, Wickes, Rogerson & Galloway as an associate. Lesak will practice in the firm’s business and commercial litigation groups.
• Judge Rosemary Barkett, who served as the first female chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, will be the guest of honor at the Oct. 1 meeting of the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association. The former justice is now a judge on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The JWLA meeting starts at noon at the River City Brewing Co. A fee of $18 for members and $23 for non-members will be charged. RSVP to Paula Brice at 398-9002.
• Reminder: the Jacksonville chapter of the Federal Bar Association will hold its luncheon at noon Wednesday at the Omni.
• Soup is no longer available at Tropical Smoothie on Hendricks Avenue. Management said no one ever ordered it.
• The hot bar will return to Mudville Grille on West Adams Street. Management says they’re waiting for cooler weather.
• Duval County Courthouse project manager Chris Boruch said the current design doesn’t have room to hold prisoners. Sheriff John Rutherford said a detention facility would allow the City to eventually move the jail out of downtown.
• The mayor’s office will not appeal the Design Review Committee’s denial of its courthouse plans at this month’s Downtown Development Authority meeting after all. The mayor is still waiting on a General Counsel’s Office opinion and will likely appeal next month.
• In an effort to support local firefighters, a new brand of kettle style chips, nacho cheese tortilla chips, chili and sodas will be appearing on grocery stores in Jacksonville. The sodas have some interesting names: Courageous Cola, Firelight Diet Cola, Backdraft Rootbeer, Incendiary Citrus, Flashover Orange and Rolling Code Black Cherry. Firefighter Brand Products will be easily identifiable with the Firefighter logo and 25 percent of the annual net profits will be donated to local and national firefighter charitable organizations and causes.
• The Chamber of Commerce has canceled the Oct. 6 HobNob, the political gathering held prior to elections. Reason, they say, is “because of the severe weather we have had this fall and because of the uncertain future of Hurricane Jeanne.”